Dr Kerstin Howe
Head of Production Genomics
I started working at the Sanger Institute in 2000 after gaining a PhD in genetics from Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany. After 2 years working on the reference gene annotation for the human and C. elegans genomes, I started my own team to analyse and improve genome assemblies, initially focused on zebrafish, then expanding in scope to the reference assemblies of human, mouse and chicken as a founding member of the Genome Reference Consortium in 2008. After incepting and leading the validation of the assemblies produced by the Vertebrate Genomes Project and the Darwin Tree of Life Project, I took on the management of the Tree of Life genome assembly production in 2021.
As the Head of Production Genomics, I look after the wet lab and informatics processes within the Tree of Life Programme. These include the teams responsible for sample preparation and nucleic acid extraction, assembly generation, curation and analysis, data tracking, curation and visualisation, as well as IT infrastructure development and maintenance. The production work is accompanied by extensive R&D to ensure all processes are cutting edge. We are generating assemblies and assembly analyses to highest quality and at world leading pace, currently releasing a genome assembly every 6 hours.
My timeline
Chair of the Earth Biogenome Project Sequencing and Assembly Committee
Head of Production Genomics - Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK
Assembly validation lead for the Vertebrate Genomes Project
Senior Scientific Manager Genome Reference Informatics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK
Project Lead Zebrafish Genome Analysis, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK
Senior Computer Biologist Wormbase, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK
Senior Computer Biologist Manual Gene Annotation, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK
PhD in Biology, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany